


Why Gellert Grindelwald Let Dumbledore Win

by SpaceWall



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Character Study, Friendship/Love, Gen, Jesus Christ JK Rowling, M/M, Make Them Gay, Rant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 16:35:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16747624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceWall/pseuds/SpaceWall
Summary: Thanks for coming to my TED Talk





	Why Gellert Grindelwald Let Dumbledore Win

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously Grindelwald is a Nazi and bad. I haven’t seen Fantastic Beasts 2 yet. I’m not seeing it because I don’t want to support Depp. This is more about the books and EU.

Gellert Grindelwald let Dumbledore win. When people talk about their relationship, the focus is always on Dumbledore- how he was almost swayed to the dark side by Grindelwald, how he refused to fight Grindelwald for decades, how he let Grindelwald live. But consider for a minute the other side. 

Albus Dumbledore is the rightful master of the elder wand, at the moment of his death. Thanks to Voldemort’s intense desire for it, we get a fairly clear path of ownership. Gregorovich, Grindelwald, Dumbledore, Malfoy, Harry. The fact that Dumbledore and Grindelwald both took it without killing is the key to tell us that Malfoy, not Snape, is the wand’s real owner. Dumbledore allows Malfoy to disarm him, and this transfers ownership. The key word in that sentence? Allows. Dumbledore wants to die on that tower. He wants Snape to do it, yes, but do you seriously think he wants his last act in life to be hurting a scared boy? I think not. 

The Elder wand is unbeatable. In The Three Brothers, it is stolen from the eldest when he is asleep and unarmed. Grindelwald steals it from Gregorovich in a similar manner. Dumbledore may be dying and weak, but he is still armed, and still the wand’s rightful master. He allows Malfoy to take it. 

All of this is to say, how did Gellert Grindelwald, one of the most powerful wizards ever, fully conscious, not dying (he lived another forty years), on the field of battle, cease to be the master of the Elder wand? Maybe in a similar manner to how Dumbledore did. But why? This man was Wizard Hitler. He wanted to exterminate everyone, and Albus Dumbledore was the only wizard with a chance of stopping him. So how the everlasting fuck did he decide to throw the duel. As I see it, there’s only one option:

Albus went into that duel willing to die. Gellert didn’t go in willing to kill him. He let Albus take his wand, become the rightful master. At the end of the day, a monster like Grindelwald still couldn’t kill the only person he ever loved. (He is, evidently, no Thanos.) 

(Maybe it went something like this: He raised his wand, and pointed it at Albus. The words were on the tip of his tongue. “Avada-“ Albus didn’t blink. He didn’t try to raise a shield. He looked at Gellert, and his eyes were cold. Gellert thought of them in another life, in another time, those eyes filled with laughter and passion, where now there was only anger, and, he thought, just a hint of fear. Even Albus Dumbledore feared death. Neither of them were its master. The stone and cloak had evaded them both. If Gellert killed him now, nothing in his power could bring him back. He thought about the greater good, and he thought about Ariana Dumbledore’s unseeing eyes, just like her brothers. He let the spell die there on his lips. Albus, unblinking, cast a non-verbal spell. Gellert felt his wand give a tug in his hand, as if asking permission. He let it slip through his fingers, fly across the battlefield, and into Albus’s outstretched hand. It was over. Albus had won.)

He spent the rest of his life in a cold, windy tower, with Albus Dumbledore to thank, because at the end of the day, he still couldn’t kill the man he loved most in the world. And then, with Albus dead and in the ground, Grindelwald died for him. Maybe just to spite the young upstart wizard fascist. But maybe, and I think more likely, because the thought of someone taking away the gift he had given to Albus upset him. 

Gellert Grindelwald was a monster and a fascist and if Dumbledore had killed him in that duel, he would have absolutely deserved it. But he also loved Albus just as much and just as complicatedly as Albus loved him, and it is an absolute fucking travesty that their relationship was reduced to some sideyes and a blood pact. This is Professor X and Magneto, but actually canonically gay. These are rivals and partners, lovers and enemies and soulmates nemeses. They deserve to hate and love each other. They deserve to be Daredevil and Elektra, or Cyclops and Dark Phoenix (or Wolverine and Dark Phoenix if you’re going movie continuity I guess). Luke and Mara Jade. Hell, there is a whole TV trope page for what it’s called when this subtext is explicit “dating Catwoman.” This is A Thing. You can do it. If they’re straight, I guess.

**Author's Note:**

> TLDR let me have my tragic romance JK Rowling
> 
> IDK why I wrote this it’s midnight I have 2 exams this week I don’t know what I’m doing someone help me.


End file.
